WordPress 2.7 Vertical Navigation

After having used the new WordPress 2.7 (which is not even beta yet) for some time, it is clear that the vertical dashboard navigation has been a bad design choice.

The aim of this revised design was to minimize vertical scrolling and make everything easier for both new and experienced users. The fact is that for me it has made the navigation more complex and has moved every action several clicks and scrolls away.

Why? Because information of equal importance cannot be aligned vertically. Items at the top will always have more importance than the ones at the bottom.

Another reason is the expanding and collapsing nature of this menu — every time the link you are looking for is in absolutely different position (in relation to browser chrome) depending on the menus that are opened.

Here are some screenshots of a real Dashboard from a real WordPress user:

Andrew, you are absolutely right about Automattic trying to improve things, but as you said — menu probably isn’t the place for innovation.

The only thing I don’t like about the new navigation is the fact that it is vertical instead of horizontal.

At the same time they have done an amazing job by testing and optimizing menu labels, which I think are now better and easier to understand.

Most of the OS X applications are good examples of the number of items which vertical (and application-wide) menus can have — for example, iTunes has three top level menu items out of which only one is expandable.

I totally respect the WordPress community efforts and updates.
I believe that menu labels are now optimized to meet users’ needs.
Still, I should say that I vote against vertical menu because such a major change in usability may reflect negatively on productivity.
Have not read enough on the matter, surely they must have did some research.
As a user I express my disagreement and hope for a horizontal option when this update arrives on our desktops.

Rich, I don’t think that plugins are to be blamed this time. Every version of WordPress before this one had no problems dealing with even 50 dedicated settings pages.

I think that a centralized settings page would have been a good idea also in every previous version of WordPress. The fact, though, is that previously it would have been simply a nice feature, while now it is required to solve a huge usability problem.

I have been following the discussion on wp-hackers list about how to consolidate plugin settings, but I don’t think it will solve the original problem.

Some plugins will require dedicated settings pages and the question will then be — how many such additional menu items are required to make the navigation unusable again.

I agree with you about the WP 2.7 vertical menu; I recently discovered the Ozh Admin Dropdown Menu plugin and it immensely improves the navigation of WP up to 2.6 – now I find it doesn’t work with the new menu in 2.7 – hopefully they might make the new menu an option in the final version of 2.7 rather than an obligation.

Guy, I have been using Ozh’s Admin Drop-down Menu since WordPress 2.5 and as you say — the new vertical navigation simply cannot compete with the simplicity and clear organization that the drop-down menus provide.

I know for sure that navigation will not be an option in 2.7. Lets hope Ozh’s finds the new navigation unusable enough to update (or maybe even rewrite, if necessary) the plugin.

I just updated, the vertical menu layout is atrocious.
BTW, I wonder who gave automatic the idea of going vertical when the whole world is going with horizontal tabs.
My install looks almost as the screenshot provided.

I have to say that after using WordPress 2.7 for a few weeks and listening to Jane talk about the motives behind the new layout… it aint bad I am a convert to Vertical Navigation. The only thing I’d say about your screen shot is… who is using that many plugins to warrant a settings page that long ;)

I’ll still probably use admin drop down on some sites though. I think both have their merits and you should make your decision on a site by site basis :D

In terms of the utilization of the screen real estate, vertical menus make much sense as there is more width then height in a typical display monitor. I think the way to use the WP 2.7 menu system is in its iconic mode. It takes much less space, options are one click away upon hover, and always visible.

I am not a fan of drop down selections outside the obvious choices, like selecting years, states, and the like. Otherwise, the menu selections are always hidden with no hint of what may be possible. In this case, simplicity hides affordance and structure. Try the iconic version of the 2.7 menu and see what you think.

Cemal, thanks for your feedback. You are right — I have been using the iconic mode ever since it became available in early betas and I love it. This post was written when nobody had even mentioned that something like that could go into the core.

People using the compact/folded menu mode in WP 2.7 should try Tangofy — well, since I made it, I believe everyone should try Tangofy :-) but I think it is most useful when the menu is folded and the only indication of what is what is the tiny 16×16 icons.